German edit

Etymology edit

16th century, from Stiefel +‎ -en in the reflexive sense. The sense “stride, walk” since the 18th century.

Pronunciation edit

  • IPA(key): [ˈʃtiːfl̩n]
  • Hyphenation: stie‧feln
  • (file)

Verb edit

stiefeln (weak, third-person singular present stiefelt, past tense stiefelte, past participle gestiefelt, auxiliary haben or sein)

  1. (intransitive, informal) to walk, march, especially stridingly, vigourously, or a long distance
    Der kommt hier ständig reingestiefelt und gibt Anweisungen.
    He comes striding in here constantly to give instructions.
    Also mussten wir den ganzen Weg wieder zurückstiefeln.
    So we had to march the whole way back again.
  2. (reflexive, dated) to put on boots
    Als er sich gestiefelt hatte, hieß er, die Kutsche vorzufahren.
    When he had put on his boots, he ordered the carriage to be set up.

Conjugation edit

Descendants edit

  • Dutch: stiefelen

Further reading edit

  • stiefeln” in Duden online
  • stiefeln” in Digitales Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache